


Tell me a (scary) story

by DracoIgnis, Dragon_and_Direwolf



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Comfort, F/M, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Scary Stories, story telling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26958640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DracoIgnis/pseuds/DracoIgnis, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragon_and_Direwolf/pseuds/Dragon_and_Direwolf
Summary: The Stark siblings have a tradition: in the evening, they will gather and tell each other scary stories. When Jon brings his girlfriend Daenerys along one night, he realises that perhaps not everyone finds it easy to sleep after a gruesome tale.
Relationships: Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen
Comments: 57
Kudos: 346





	Tell me a (scary) story

“But when they came home,” Arya jumped to her feet and raised her arms into the air, “they found a _hook_ stuck in the car!”

For a moment, the living room was quiet. Sitting in the orange glow from the burning candles were Arya, Robb, Sansa, Jon, and Daenerys. Everyone else had gone to bed. Eddard’s snoring could be heard echoing down the stairs. It hummed through the hallway like a machine.

Sansa was the first one to break the silence. She rolled her eyes and sighed: “Really, Arya? _The Hookman?_ Isn’t that story from, like, the fifties?”

“It is,” Robb said, flicking through Wikipedia on his phone. The blue light from the screen gave his bright eyes a tired glow. “It gained popularity when it was printed in the sixties in some advice column.”

“It’s not a story,” Arya protested, “it really happened!”

Sansa scoffed: “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah! To _my friend!”_

_“You_ have a friend who made out with some guy on a roadtrip across America?”

Arya paused. “Yes,” she then said.

“A friend who heard an announcement about a serial killer with a _hook_ instead of a hand?”

Arya hesitated. As she slowly sat down in front of the fireplace, she muttered: “I might’ve read it online.”

“Well, I’ve never heard it,” Daenerys said. She was slumped across the sofa, her feet resting in Jon’s lap. She sent Arya a kind look. “I think it was really _creepy.”_

“Don’t encourage her,” Robb mumbled out of the side of his mouth as Arya beamed, “or she’ll be telling you about the _licked hand_ next.”

Daenerys blinked. “What’s the _licked hand?”_ but she’d barely finished her question before Arya eagerly turned to her, moved her pillow closer to the sofa, and leaned in with a hushed voice:

“There was once this old woman-”

A groan went through the room. “Really?” Sansa sighed, and even Jon grimaced and patted Daenerys’ feet for her attention.

“Look, Dany, _everyone_ knows this story. We were meant to tell _scary_ ones, not urban legends.”

Daenerys glanced back at him with a stubborn look. “Well, _I_ don’t know it!”

_“She_ doesn’t know it!” Arya nodded and looked between her siblings. As everyone glared back at her, she huffed: “We all had to sit through Robb’s rendering of _Jaws_ which, by the way, is not scary _at all._ At least let me have this!” In a last ditch attempt to have her way, she sent Jon an exasperated look.

Jon, glancing between Robb’s pleading face and his little sister’s excited eyes, sighed: “Right, okay then,” and felt himself flush when Daenerys smiled at him gratefully.

His girlfriend turned back to Arya and urged: “Go on,” and she began:

“There was once this old woman who lived alone in the woods. Her only company was a dog. One stormy night, the lights in her house went out. She was really scared when she climbed into bed, because she could hear noises she wasn’t used to, like the creaking of floorboards and dripping water and such. Anyway, she was comforted by her dog who stayed by her bed and licked her hand until she fell asleep. But in the morning when she woke up, she saw her dog dead on the floor, and written in blood across the bedroom wall was: _Humans can lick hands too!”_

“Uuh!” Daenerys shivered.

“Ugh,” the others sighed, sharing a knowing look.

“I know one about kidneys, too,” Arya continued, thrilled to have someone listen, but Sansa waved her hand dismissively.

“You’ve told two in a row. It’s someone else’s turn.”

“Right,” Arya said. She was pouting, but she settled back onto her pillow, arms wrapped around her knees, and looked around. “Who knows one, then?”

Once more, they were all silent. Eddard’s snoring roared. Outside, a wind had started picking up. It blew wetly against the windows, the hard hammering of rain soon drowning out all other noises. It could’ve been cosy, all of them sat in front of the blazing fire. But then a mischievous smile took over Sansa’s lips.

“I know one,” she said, but before she could get any further, Arya reminded her:

“It has to be _scary!”_

“It is!” Sansa leaned forward on her chair, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes searching their faces. “This happened to a friend of mine-”

“As if!” Robb chuckled.

Sansa elbowed him, but continued: “-who lived in Japan at the time. She was renting a small flat in Tokyo. She was a bit of a party girl - always staying out late, always drinking until sunrise. It got so bad that she started forgetting that she’d done things, like eat all her food or use up her toothpaste or whatever. One night, she had a friend stay over, and she told him about her problems, and they shared a laugh. But when they went to bed, things got weird.” She paused.

Jon perked. When Daenerys looked back at him, he mumbled: “I’ve not heard this one.”

“What got weird?” Arya asked.

Sansa, looking pleased at having everyone’s attention, took her time to correct her jumper before continuing: “So, she slept on a bed, but her friend had to stay on a mattress on the floor. And he’d barely laid down before he got up and said: _Let’s go to the shop!_ Now, it was well past midnight, and they were both tired, and my friend just couldn’t understand _why_ he would want to go shopping then. But he _insisted_ that he needed something, and eventually they got dressed and left the flat for the nearest convenience store.”

The rain picked up. It seemed to echo through the living room. Everyone held their breath, staring at Sansa. Arya asked:

“What did he need?” and Sansa smiled:

“Nothing!” She looked between their bewildered faces. “He needed nothing. In fact, they only made it to the elevator when he said: _You need to call the police!_ My friend didn’t understand, but then he explained: once he’d laid down on the mattress, he’d glimpsed under her bed and seen an old man _hiding there!”_

“Gross!” Daenerys gasped.

“I know!” Sansa said gleefully. “The police came and arrested him. It turned out to be the owner of the flat! He was there the whole time, eating her food and using her things whenever she wasn’t home.”

“That’s _disgusting,”_ Daenerys whispered.

Jon gave her feet a comforting squeeze. “It’s just a story,” he reminded her.

“No, it happened to my friend,” Sansa winked.

“Yeah, just like _The Hookman_ happened to mine!” Arya mocked. Still, she looked a bit pale, and even Robb had to admit:

“That was kind of a cool story.”

They were quiet. The old clock on the mantelpiece ticked. It was almost two in the morning, and from looking at their faces, they could all do with some sleep. Still Jon couldn’t help but clear his throat and sit up a bit more straight. “I know one,” he said.

“Last one,” Robb said, also glancing at the time. “It’s well over Arya’s bedtime.”

“It’s not,” Arya protested. She’d already turned to Jon, her eyes big and expectant.

Daenerys flipped onto her back and pushed herself up onto her elbows as she looked down at him, brows raised. _“You_ know a scary story?” she said.

Jon sent her a flushed look. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“You’re always hiding away whenever we watch horror movies.”

As Robb snickered, Jon felt his cheeks redden even more. He sent her a defiant look. “That’s just to make you feel better about yourself,” he said and, before she could say anything else, started his story: “A man lived in-”

“It’s scarier if you make it sound like you knew them,” Sansa interjected.

Jon sent her an annoyed look, but he corrected himself: “A friend of mine lived in an apartment building. One day, he was running late for work, so when he saw the elevator about to close, he ran and _just_ managed to push through the doors. There was someone else already - a guy in a black trenchcoat huddled in the corner, facing the wall. The man- I mean, _my friend_ tried to say good morning, but the guy just ignored him. When they reached the ground floor and the doors opened, the guy pushed past him in a hurry.”

“Bet he was a flasher,” Robb whispered to Sansa who snickered.

Jon focused on Arya and Daenerys who were still watching him intensely. “My friend went to work, and it wasn’t until he entered the office that he noticed blood on his shirt. It was from where the guy had pushed past him. He thought it was weird, but just bought a new shirt during lunch and went about his day. He forgot all about it until in the morning.”

“What happened in the morning?” Arya urged.

Jon sent her a wry smile. Out of the corners of his eyes, he was watching Daenerys. His girlfriend was sitting up more and more, seemingly curious about his story. He made sure to lower his voice as he continued: “My friend was getting ready for work when he heard a knock on the door. He looked out of the peephole and saw a police officer. The man said: _Sir, there was a murder in the building last night. Did you see anything suspicious?_ Of course, my friend immediately thought of the weird guy in the elevator. But he was running late for work, and he thought: if I say anything, I’ll be delayed, and I really didn’t even see the guy’s face! So he told the officer that no, he hadn’t seen anything.”

“That’s terrible!” Sansa chimed.

Jon’s wry smile deepened. “You’d think so, right? Well, until in the evening when the guy was watching the news. They were running a segment about the murder in his building, and they showed a picture of the suspect. And who did you think he saw on the screen?” The room was quiet.

Daenerys whispered: “The guy from the elevator?”

“Yes and no - he saw the police officer!”

Robb frowned. “That makes no sense!”

“Don’t you get it? The police officer _was_ the guy from the elevator! He knew he’d been seen, so he returned and asked everyone if they’d experienced something suspicious. If they said yes and let him in to talk, he would’ve killed them!”

“Ohh!” Arya gasped. “He was covering his trail!”

“Exactly,” Jon winked at her.

Daenerys sent him a tense look. For a moment, Jon wasn’t sure whether she was annoyed or impressed. Then, she gave him a small nod. “That’s actually pretty terrifying,” she said.

“It is,” Sansa agreed, biting down on one of her knuckles in thought. “You can’t trust anyone these days.”

“Not even your reflection - want to hear a story about that?” Arya asked, but Robb stood up and yawned.

“I think it’s time for bed!”

“Oh, _come on,”_ Arya begged, but the rest of them were getting to their feet too. Jon patted her hair and said:

“We can do this again tomorrow,” which seemed to appease her somewhat. At least she picked up her pillow and allowed Sansa to lead her toward their rooms in the back.

“Good night!” they shouted over their shoulders.

Jon gave them a little wave. He then turned to help Robb blow out the many candles until there were just the dying flames left in the fireplace. Daenerys was still on the sofa, staring thoughtfully into space. As Robb bid them goodnight and headed back up the stairs, Jon reached over and gave her shoulder a squeeze. She stirred in surprise and blinked up at him.

Jon sent her a small smile. “Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” she replied. She pushed a silver lock of hair behind her ear and peered around the room. Faint shadows were dancing across the walls. With the storm still rattling the windows, it seemed almost eerie. “Sorry, I must have dozed off.”

“Did the stories scare you?” Jon asked and helped her stand up. Her hand felt small and cold. He gave it a kiss before they walked together toward the hallway. “That’s all they are, you know. _Stories.”_

“I’m not a child,” Daenerys sighed, but there was still a warm tension to her voice. Jon could see how her eyes flickered around. When they reached the hall, she stared at the front door. “It’s just-” She paused on the threshold.

Jon leaned back against the bannister as he watched her. “Just?” he asked and cocked his head. He could only see her back, her front facing the door. There was something almost tense to her stance - as if she was expecting it to fling open at any second.

“Just-” Daenerys started again before shaking her head. She looked back at him. Her cheeks had gone a bit pink. “Sorry, it’s _embarrassing.”_

“What is?”

“Well,” Daenerys rubbed her arms and stared down at the floor as she admitted: “I think I might be a _little_ scared.”

Jon smiled. “Just a little?” he teased.

Daenerys pushed him. “Don’t be mean,” she begged. “No one in my family ever told scary stories. Dad liked stories about war, and sure, they could be frightening. But not _scary_ scary.” She sighed and sent him a frustrated look. “Does that even make sense?”

“It does,” Jon promised with a nod. As Daenerys kept standing on the threshold, her body seemingly unwilling to move upstairs, he reached out and slipped his arm around her shoulders. He pulled her to his chest. “I know what will make you feel better,” he said.

Daenerys peered up at him. Even in the darkness, he could see her violet eyes shimmer curiously. “You do?” she asked and, when he nodded, wondered: “What?”

* * *

The cocoa was hot. Daenerys smiled and leaned in over the mug as she let the steam bash against her face. They were huddled closely together on the top steps, their legs intertwined, their hands warmed by the drinks. “You were right,” she said, inhaling the sweet scent, “this _does_ make me feel better.”

“Dad used to tell Robb and me scary stories before bedtime,” Jon said. He leaned back against the bannister as he watched his own cocoa. “We both pretended that we found them funny, but then we would stay up all night listening for any creepy sounds.”

“That’s terrible,” Daenerys said with a laugh. “Why didn’t he stop?”

“He never found out! When we got really frightened, we’d sneak out together and make some hot cocoa, and we’d sit right here,” he gestured at the step, “and keep each other entertained until we either fell asleep or were no longer scared.”

“Mhmm, so this is your special spot?” Daenerys asked and brushed the step with her hand. “I feel _honoured.”_

“When Dad started doing the same to Arya, I used to take her here too,” Jon explained. It was with a wry mumble that he added: “I don’t actually think she was ever scared, she just wanted the drink.”

“So that’s why you all know so many stories,” Daenerys mused.

Jon nodded. “He told all of us different ones. Now they’re almost part of the family.”

“As much as that?” Daenerys giggled as Eddard’s roaring snore echoed down the hall.

Jon chuckled and dipped his nose into the mug. “It’s hard to be freaked out when listening to _that!”_

Daenerys sipped her cocoa and sighed with joy. “Well,” she said, a teasing glimpse to her eyes, “I’m still feeling very, _very_ frightened, so maybe you need to tell me a bedtime story.”

“What, a scary one?” Jon said surprised.

Daenerys grimaced. “No, definitely not! A fairy tale, maybe. How about something with princesses and knights and dragons? That’s more my _style.”_

As Daenerys sent him a sweet look above the edge of her mug, Jon couldn’t help but feel his cheeks flush. He scooted closer to her and eyed the ceiling as he wrecked his brain for a tale, and then started:

“Once upon a time, there was a princess who wanted a large dragon of her own-” and as the hours passed and the night sky turned bright, they found themselves huddled together, the mugs empty by their sides and their arms wrapped close around one another, sound asleep in the pale morning light.

**Author's Note:**

> There was a period when DragonandDirewolf and I would play a series of scary stories before bedtime. It was the best way to fall asleep! Unfortunately, after a while, the stories started to repeat themselves, and we grew tired of it. But with Halloween coming up, I'm thinking we should try it again.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this little peek into a possible scene that could play out at the Stark estate. I love the idea of the Stark siblings all getting along with Daenerys. Who needs rivalry and arguments when you can have fluffy family feels instead!
> 
> Thank you for all your lovely comments on yesterday's chapter of 'Perfectly Imperfect'. I'm so glad to see the themes of the story resonated with so many of you! Tomorrow will be the second chapter of "Burden of Love". If you like historical dramas, please check it out!


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